PJ Media is asking military voters who had problems getting their ballots to send their stories to story@pjmedia.com. Why? Because the MOVE Act may likely be rewritten next year, and information about problems you experienced will be essential to get it right in 2012.

Military voters don’t like to rock the boat; they don’t want to be attached to gripes. Here’s how PJ Media will deal with that — simply, by making sure your privacy is protected if you want it. PJM has gotten information already, especially from military families. It’s clear by now that military voting this year turned into a fiasco, despite the new MOVE Act.

Sixteen states and territories, at least, blew it and didn’t mail ballots on time. The Maine secretary of state, amazingly, told Fox News last week that compliance has been “pretty impressive.” I’d hate to see what he thinks is pretty “awful.”

PJ Media had been predicting this fiasco as far back as July 2010. The reasons are many, and were predicted. For starters, some states like New York, Maryland, Colorado, and Wisconsin did nothing to change their laws. They just didn’t care enough to get the job done and bring the ballot mailout dates in line with the MOVE Act’s 45-day guarantee. Maryland passed legislation to allow 16 year olds to register to vote, but couldn’t take the time to ensure that military members got a ballot in time by complying with the MOVE Act. State apathy was one reason for the fiasco.

But the Eric Holder Justice Department deserves enormous blame. As far back as February, a manager at the Voting Section told state election officials that the new law was vague and the DOJ didn’t really want to sue anyone. State election officials were flabbergasted and acted accordingly. They assumed compliance with the new law wasn’t a big deal to the DOJ, the agency charged with enforcement.

Then things really got bad. In the spring, the DOJ never provided the Pentagon waiver guidance despite the Pentagon’s repeated requests. And how many lawsuits did the DOJ file despite the multiple states that were facially out of compliance with too-late primary elections? Zero. The summer dribbled away with analysis, talk, and chatter instead of action.

Then things got even worse. After the September 18 mailing deadline, the DOJ was operating in a fog. Media reports found wholesale noncompliance with the mailing deadlines before the Justice Department did. And even when I broke the story on October 7 that Illinois didn’t mail the ballots in time, it took DOJ 13 days to finally enter a consent decree. It should have taken one day to sue.

And even the consent decrees were weak. In Illinois, the decree extended the mailing deadline a single day, even after ballots mailed two weeks late. The so-called out of court “agreements” the DOJ entered into with states like Alaska and Kansas were even more comic. They weren’t even agreements in the legal sense. They were letters summarizing phone calls. The Alaska “agreement” states it is really a “proposal.” There are no mutual signatures. They are a joke. It is no wonder the DOJ hid them from the public by not including them either on their enforcement page or in the con job press releases written by the DOJ propaganda shop.

And the worst may be yet to come. Despite MOVE Act protections against tossing out military ballots, recounts and extended deadlines loom. Will it take days or weeks for the DOJ to detect non-compliance with laws against tossing the ballots for small errors? Will it take weeks to act again when they discover noncompliance?

With this history, it is no wonder that some on Capitol Hill are looking to rewrite the MOVE Act and write out the DOJ’s monopoly on enforcement. The best thing to protect military voters in 2012 would be to end Eric Holder’s central role in protecting military voters. You don’t deserve a job you can’t do.

The only place where military voting protection has improved is at the Pentagon’s FVAP shop. A moribund operation has been transformed under new leadership. The old leadership developed a reputation characterized by lavish international travel junkets instead of actual protection of military voters. In the summer, the Pentagon granted a few waivers from the MOVE Act they probably should not have granted, such as in New York. But even that bad decision had the DOJ’s fingerprints all over it, as the DOJ was in favor of the waiver.

PJ Media now calls on the people who have defended liberty all over the world to defend military voting. PJM wants your stories; your frustration; your examples of late ballots, missing ballots, DOJ unwillingness to help (and willingness to help), and problems with the system. This is what America is all about — a powerfully informed citizenry fixing problems with an inept government. Without your stories, nothing will improve in 2012. Please send your stories to story@pjmedia.com.

What is disgraceful is that while the leftists are denying our uniformed heroes their constitutional right to vote, they are attempting to grant unconstitutional voting privileges to illegal aliens. Will Americans wake up anytime soon to what is happening to their country?

Why are these waivers legal. They are tantamount to selective enforcement. Doesn’t the Fourteenth Amendment protect all citizens from arbitrary enforcement? Waivers of enforcement for all citizens equally would seem to be legal, if permitted by Congress. Waivers for some classes of citizens would seem to be unconstitutional.

You are correct. The Courts are the arbiter of matters of constitutionality. Therefore, just because the Congress gave the DoD the authority to issue waivers does not necessarily mean that it is constitutional. That said, recognize that there is a presumption given to Congress that the laws it passes are Constitutional. I believe, in this case, that the waiver authority would be found constitutional. Just out of curiosity, would you take the same logical reasoning with “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?”

Thank you for your reply. I believe that 10 USC 654 currently implements what is referred to as DADT. It applies to all soldiers. However, the implementation is performed under the UCMJ which is a somewhat different thing. So I’m not sure what you are asking. Are you worried about Presidential waiver of 654 and whether it would be legal? Probably, if the law allows waiver, it would be if applied equally to all soldiers.

The more interesting aspect of the DADT controversy is what will happen when we get rid of it, because it certainly looks like we will eventually. Now I was involved in a incident, while serving on active duty, where we were a hair’s breadth from serious injury or death of two soldiers who overtly expressed their homosexual identity. Fortunately, we stopped it about a second before it went bad. I expect a lot of friction, some personal injury, and possibly some fatalities when the law is changed. Our leadership will do its best to prevent this, but I’ve seen what can happen.

My guess is that the brass will opt for strict enforcement of the no PDA regulations. Instead of non-punitive separation from the service, a public display of affection will likely result in a court-martial and a dishonorable discharge. This regulation is legal because it applies equally to all soldiers. But I’m just guessing. Anyway, we’re about to embark on another great adventure while we’re at war, which probably will turn out, in retrospect, to have been a less than stellar idea.

Is it possible to compare a list of the States that are suppressing the military vote through the activity outlined in this article with a list of States that have Democrat-controlled legislatures and Democrat governors? I would be willing to wager the lists match!

Eric Holder’s incompetence is only equated by Obama’s incompetence. That’s why you always see Holder with a smile on his face when he’s around Obama; They both are fully aware of the incompetent fakes they are.
Until there are more responsible people in Congress that intend to abide by their oath of office, and uphold the laws and our Constitution, the DOJ will be nothing but the political arm of the White House that it is today.
The next ‘special prosecutor’ has an enormous workload waiting for them.

es – simply untrue in my jurisdiction (Westchester County, NY). The DOJ granted NYS a waiver until 1 Oct. NYS missed the agreed upon deadline and on 12 OCT the DOJ sued, http://www.justice.gov/crt/voting/misc/ny_uocava10_comp.pdf. On October 13, I received a message from the Westchester County Board of Elections saying that my ballot was in the mail and online (12 days past the waiver deadline and almost a month past the MOVE Act deadline). On 15 OCT, NYS annouced a 9 day extension to the deadline for the acceptance of the ballot (note: not in the date the ballot must be postmark), http://www.elections.state.ny.us/NYSBOE/news/NYSMOVEActExtensionRelFinal.pdf. I have provided you the timeline for my rebuttal. What is the basis for your opinion?

voters at any point can go online to fvap.gov to access the federal write in absentee ballot. maybe not the NY ballot, but they can def access the online federal ballot for them to write in who they want to vote for. nobody points this out.

“Your Sensei” – More blanket statements… Are you in the military? What is the basis for this assertion? I can tell you (anecdotally, of course – because it would be inappropriate in the military for me to ask) that of my military peers I think there is a pretty equal balance between those of conservative and liberal ideology. Whether or not they vote the way the talk/act, I cannot say. Sorry for the double post. I am new at this.

Your comment is both pointless and baseless. We have seen a huge upswing in military deaths since the “Annointed One”has been in charge, That is because he cares more about his muslim friends than he does the people he is supposed to be leading. Liberals care nothing about our military,hence the huge gap between them and conservatives now serving. So please don’t post ridiculous comments like that here….. we are not the local child care facility, we don’t believe everything that is said.

The only reason conservatives care about the military is for their votes.

I don’t agree, but let’s say that is true. The military is still being screwed on voting, and it is only the conservative wing of the electorate that is speaking up for them.

Citizens in the military have a right to vote, unlike the illegals and felons that the Left is trying to enfranchise in order to farm their votes. So unless you, Sensei, are willing to admit that you support disenfranchising a significant portion of the electorate to inappropriately influence election outcome for partisan reasons, it is difficult to see what your problem is with conservative concern about military voting rights.

“Your Sensei” – More blanket statements… Are you in the military? What is the basis for this assertion? I can tell you (anecdotally, of course – because it would be inappropriate in the military for me to ask) that of my military peers I think there is a pretty equal balance between those of conservative and liberal ideology. Whether or not they vote the way the talk/act, I cannot say.

It would take something more than just a few states not sending out ballots and alot more than ACORN and SEIU forging some ballots for liberals to win this election. Americand are awake and informed like they have never been b4. As long as we make it to the booths on Nov.2nd we will be ok.

I think/hope/pray you are right. I am pretty sure that SEIU et al. tried all their tricks to steal the Scott Brown election, but were not able to affect the outcome. They simply did not have the numbers.

We outnumber them by more than two to one (self-identifying conservatives). Soros even said there was nothing he could do to stop the Republican avalanche. The plan they have, of course, is to blame everything on the newly Republican House. This blame game will seem more convincing if Republicans also gain the Senate.

That’s why I’m not pinning a lot of hopes on a Republican Senate; having a Democrat Senate makes their blame game more implausible. The House is where everything is funded or de-funded, anyway.

We have to be diligent to the end. We are literally fighting for our way of life.

Okay; You’re the second to call me on this.
It’s ‘selective incompetence’; The same as the ‘selective enforcement’ of the MOVE Act. Does that define my terms any clearer?
Selective or not, it’s still incompetence, and that’s their choice.

Incompetence can be shrugged off as “Oh, he couldn’t do any better.” This isn’t the case. This is being done with premeditation and is well thought out. What is truly frightening is that this farce is going on on many levels i.e.. the military vote, the Texas vote, the Philadelphia vote, the Chicago vote etc. It invites a backlash which will tear the country apart. I for one don’t want to see that happen.

At this point of my life, I’d make a truly poor soldier. I’m too old, too fat, too slow. I’ll fight if I have to, but that’s not what I’m looking for. I’m hoping that it won’t come to that, however I do want my country back before its too late and becomes another France or Greece. All we have is our votes. If that’s not enough we’re in real trouble. If I’m stopped at the polls and prevented from voting, I will fight. And, I won’t wait to complain on PJM. I’ve earned my right to vote and I will or else. My heart goes out to our troops in harms way being treated as non=citizens. Elections in my state CA have been won and lost by voters who aren’t citizens. Foreign nationals are given fraudulent registrations so they can vote for the Democrat/Leftist machine. Those of us who pay our bills, our taxes and support this country are being disenfranchised by those who are foreign, can’t speak English, and live off the dole. A street person, or illegal alien, or felon has more rights than we have. We carry the burden while we continue to lose our rights and our freedoms. Nov.2nd…………… Let’s make it work for us!

I am from the old traditional military school of political policy. That means I represent when the military was not allowed to be “politicized” among its ranks. A politicized military can become a disasterous military especially, when allowed at the policy making senior ranks! America’s military has become increasingly more a politicized military post 60′s and 70′s. By “politicized” I mean more politically motivated within. This provides for biased policy making and unsound military advice to the governments leadership. For example! No wise and learned military warrior would ever submit their advice to the government in support of “military” nation building campaigns. Such is NOT their constitutional provision to the nation. Their constitutional provision to the nation is “defeating” the enemy into a procalmation of international surrender. Post WWII this nations military has been repeatedly used for “political” manipulation and gains rather than for “pure” national defense. Military leaders have to be free from politics to defend through their advisal, their constitutional provisions of the Consitution…..not to mention free from all forms of political corruption!

Therefore, I have very mixed emotions regarding servicemen and women being involved in any political elections beyond that of their residency States own governments and expelled from voting for any national office elections.

I know this presents a vast range of constitutional issues, but something has to be in place to prevent a politically, manipulated and politically corrupted military contrary to the constitutional military authroities.

The question is, do you consider our troops citizens or not. When my family first came to this country, my brother was drafted for the US Army. With the draft came full US citizenship and all its rights. Ask our troops if they want to be in a foreign country in harms way. They practically all tell you ‘No’. Yet they are over there serving and at times giving up their lives. I think they have earned all the full rights of citizenship and that includes the right to vote. I see your point of view; however, I don’t agree with it. Isn’t this a great country? We can argue a point like this. That’s what freedom is. Just smell that air, I hope it smells the same tomorrow. God bless.

Yes, of course, we warriors are American citizens with all the constitutional rights granted American citizens. I don’t have any solutions but I know one thing, our military cannot be the non politicized machine it is suposed to be if political biase and corruptions continues to grow throught its ranks…especially, among our staff and general ranks. The Pentagon, like the hall of congress and the White House are ripe with political bias and corruption. Every four or eight years, our military leadership is discarded and replaced based on their “political ideological alliance” with the incoming administrations party. General promotions are now made on the same basis rather than ones knowledge, skill sets and demonstrated military performance. This same political corruption has now crept into the promotions of junior, line and staff officer ranks.

The days of warrior leadership standing up to civilian leadership and presidents are now gone! Our military leadership is now beginning to function like a third world military under a dictatorship. Something has to counteract this! I don’t know the answer but, seeing whats happening after serving 34 years is stomach wrenching!

Oops, I’m not done with you yet. Nation building comes as a consequence of WWII and the subsequent Cold War. The Marshal plan rebuilt Europe in the face of a Communist threat. It worked. If you look further you can see Japan another success story, South Korea still another success story. It is a proven way to fight a threat. The Left is continually hindering any progress we make, be it Vietnam, Iraq or Afganistan. They would like us out of the nation building business. The question then has to be asked are you more comfortable with Japan or Iran? Even if we are not successful, if we don’t try, we automatically lose. I’ve tried to say it all.

Nice summation. That was a way for any country to improve it’s existence; Start a war with the United States, surrender, then begin rebuilding. Drastic, but, it worked.
THAT policy is what has enabled the United States to become the country of today, WITH the allies we have.
With the ‘regime’ we have in Congress and the White House today, with their WILLFUL IGNORANCE AND INCOMPETENCE in foreign AND domestic policy, this country is becoming broken down and disrespected from within and afar.
AND IT DOES LOOK LIKE THEIR MASTER PLAN!
It’s very simple: Are they our enemy or not? They are accomplishing what Al Qaeda would like to be responsible for! What Ahmadinejad, Jung Il, Chavez, Castro, would like to have credit for! And when someone comes along that has the fortitude to try and redirect us back to the “proven’ path, they are relentlessly attacked by the current ‘regime’ and their puppet media.
I have read and lived enough to know there is RAMPANT, UNBRIDLED, ENDORSED, ignorance and incompetence, thriving within these United States, BECAUSE of INCOMPETENT leaders and educators.
We The People CAN educate ourselves with the necessary expertise, to rid the ‘regimes, local gangs’, and other parasites, from our governing authority, at the present time. But, as you can see, it is not easily accomplished.
Our Rights have not been completely taken away, but, THEY are being chipped away every day.
INDIVIDUALS have to take a stand and stand for our Founding Principles. They are proven to enable a nation to become the nation the U.S. has become.
(Darn; My soap box just broke).

Sorry, but comparing WWII and the Marshal Plan to “military” nation building as “unofficially” defined today (because it is unconstitutional) is not even close. The Germans in the Atlantic and the Japanese in the Pacific “DECLARED WAR” against the sovereignity of the United States and acted upon their declarations. We soldiers jumped into action and did what we’re constitutionally obligated to do in such instances. We battled them into an official international surrender and we CAME HOME! The rest was essentially political and civilian contract operations on the backs of American taxpayers.

Exempting Korea, medling into the governments of Iran (late 40′s and 50′s), Vietnam (40′s,50′s and 60′s), Pananma, Grenada (slightly different circumstances), Lebanon, Kosovo/Bosnia, Iraq and now Afghanistan, were and are an unconstitutional political effort of escalating “military” nation building under the covenants of the UN.

So tell me, should this also apply to Reservists and National Guardsmen? When I enlisted, I did 3 years active duty and 5 in the IRR. Should I have been denied my right to vote for the full 8 years, or just the 3 in which I was on active duty?

Should people who are of an appropriate age to serve be allowed to vote? It hardly seems fair that only people who aren’t willing to serve their country be given a disproportionate amount of influence in how the country is run.

malclave – Like I said, I have no answers. But wouldn’t it be nice to have a military leadership be able to appear before congress and the Commander-In-Chief and declare that they represent no persons of any party….only the United States Constitution, the people of America and the collective of the armed forces.

Presidents have methodically increased their abuse of power in their use of the military and its charter under the constitution. Perhaps dismantling the UN would be a good place to start since the UN has seemingly and increasingly become an overriding authority of our United States Constitution, as it relates to use of our military. For crying out loud, the Presidents of today send the U.S. Coast Guard, the DOJ/FBI/DEA, and a host of other civilan civil servants from our cities police agenies into combat zones. Similarly, we have FBI, DEA and ICE agents now assigned in foreign nations without any constitutional authority. States National Guards are now headquartered in and with leadership under the control of the U.S. Department of Defense.

P.J. O’Rourke explains why the Democrats in the states may want to disenfranchise military votes by their inaction on assuring their votesin his recent essay from the Weekly Standard :

“And Democrats hate the military, of course. Soldiers set a bad example. Here are men and women who possess what, if they chose, could be complete control over power. Yet they treat power with honor and respect. Members of the armed forces fight not to seize power for themselves but to ensure that power can bestow its favors upon all Americans.”

When in power, Democrats seem to rely on obfuscation, lies, paid audiences, local level thuggery and complex plays on the fringe of Robert’s Rules of Order to maintain their majority. Its like a coup by the chess club in high school where their extended closed door deliberations only extend their complete remoteness from the rest of the student body.

These people are morphing into freaks or they are simply unable to keep up the lies which cast them in slightly better light when this whole Obama nation started.

The implications of this send chills up my spine. The legitimacy of our government depends on free and open elections in which all citizens have the opportunity to vote and all votes count. If the fairness of the election is widely questioned, the very legitimacy of our government will come under doubt.

While I don’t advocate violence, I think that this is one of the few cases that could lead to serious violence in the US.

Historically, the vote margins rarely required very much absentee counting thus, about 12% of votes were never counted. In more recent times however, the margins seem to have closed necessitating complete absentee ballot counts.

As most citizens are now discovering, absentee voting has always been the primary source of voter fraud. With todays electronic technology there is no excuse for the military forces serving overseas not to have their voting rights exercised via secure and controlled voting environments all the way down to the company units admistered via the AG Corps or the other services Adjudants or Executive Officers of the units. The Secretary of States would simply have ballots from each States counties uploaded on their secure system and each service member would use their social security number for access to vote. The same would apply to all other government employees serving overseas. All other “authorized” absentee ballot requests should be limited to and have to be certified by an employer or medical physician and allowed to vote by mobile electronic absentee systems through the Secretary of States Office. All other citizens simply living abroad would be required to apply for absentee ballots using the current system. This would greatly reduce the “uncontrolled paper” absentee voting so ripe with fraud today and still allow the exercise of absentee voting.